48 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



(Troglodytes parvulus], and Redbreasts (Erithacus rubeada) were 

 very abundant. During the passage of these species several Hawks 

 (Acdpiter nisus and Fako cesalon) were much in evidence. 



A Snow Bunting (Plectrophenax nivalis) in tawny plumage was 

 caught on Tinto in a rabbit-trap on i6th September. By the end 

 of that month the Swallows were gone, but on the 2ist October I 

 saw three Swallows (Hi? undo rustled) peacefully circling in the frosty 

 sunshine around Lochlyock farmhouse at the north base of Tinto 

 (which was covered with snow on the i4th and i5th, when the 

 temperature was as low as eighteen degrees Fahr.) On the same 

 day I observed a pair of Marsh Tits (P. pahistris) at Muirglen, near 

 Lanark. On the 2nd November the Kingfisher (Alcedo ispidd) 

 appeared in its old haunts at the foot of the Manse garden ; on the 

 3rd a few Bramblings (Fringilla montifringilld) were seen ; and on 

 the i yth a Peregrine (Falco peregrinus) was observed passing low 

 down over Carmichael Hill. Among the Teal, Mallard, and Wigeon, 

 which are very abundant on the Clyde at present, I observed on 

 the 6th December a pair of Golden-eye Duck (Clangula glaiicion, L.) 

 One of them was tame enough to allow my watching it for some 

 time diving in pursuit of food. The birds are in immature plumage. 

 On 1 4th December, during a heavy sleet shower, I saw a Great Gray 

 Shrike (Lanius excubitor, L.) in hedgerow at Harleyholm stackyard. 

 -J D. W. GIBSON, Carmichael. 



Jay in East Lothian. On 27th September last I examined, in the 

 house of Mr. John Fairbairn, Stobshiel, East Lothian, a specimen of 

 the Jay which he had caught in a rabbit-trap in a plantation adjoin- 

 ing the shepherd's house at Wanside on the Lammermuirs. The 

 exact date was not forthcoming, but was, as far as its captor (my 

 informant) could recollect, in 1882. Though such a comparatively 

 old record, I consider it to be of interest in consideration of the 

 extremely local distribution of this bird in the Lothians at the 

 present time. ROBERT GODFREY, Edinburgh. 



The Jay in Berwickshire. It is interesting to record that a 

 Jay (Garni/us glandarius) was shot on 23rd October last, on the 

 confines of this parish, Chirnside, and that of Ayton, and is being 

 preserved. The last specimen seen in Berwickshire, as far as I can 

 make out, was shot at Rawburn near Longformacus about fifty years 

 ago, and was to be seen in a shepherd's house in that region not 

 many years ago. About that time there were Jays on Leader side 

 in the Lauder district. I have been resident in the Eastern Borders 

 for nearly fifty years, and have never seen one in Berwickshire ; 

 although I have often seen the bird in northern counties. Two 

 more specimens are still left, Lord Tweedmouth's keeper informs 

 me, at Blackburn, in Chirnside Parish, but I am afraid they will get 

 " short shrift " if a gunner gets within shot. These birds must have 

 emigrated to the district, for it is almost impossible that in a game- 



